Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 15, 2:20 PM ET

O max pain

Spot (delayed)$58.94
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$60+1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.18±7.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.6110K puts / 16K calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3015.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$341Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $67.5

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 18$60+1.8%3d
Fri, Oct 16$62.5+6.0%31d
Fri, Dec 18$60+1.8%94d
Fri, Jan 15$60+1.8%122d
Fri, Mar 19$65+10.3%185d
Thu, Jun 17$62.5+6.0%275d
Fri, Sep 17$57.5-2.4%367d
Fri, Jan 21$62.5+6.0%493d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60304356698295$47M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot603042.552.562.572.5905K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)O open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot603042.552.562.572.5905050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot30435669829559%13%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 16.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 67.53042.552.562.572.590+$682K$682K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.0042.50.00180.00-0.00-0.02
0.99-0.00450.00490.01-0.00-0.03
0.98-0.0047.50.01110.02-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.01500.02100.03-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.0152.50.03500.06-0.01-0.13
0.79-0.01550.05440.09-0.01-0.23
0.63-0.0157.50.07530.11-0.01-0.39
0.43-0.01600.08220.12-0.01-0.58
0.25-0.0162.50.06680.10-0.01-0.76
0.14-0.01650.04360.07-0.01-0.88
0.07-0.0067.50.02600.04-0.00-0.94
0.04-0.00700.01540.03-0.00-0.96
0.02-0.0072.50.00920.020.00-0.98
0.01-0.00750.00580.01-0.99
0.01-0.00800.00240.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot455562.570809512K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot27.537.547.557.567.58017K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 76K call contracts, 61K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: O workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk